Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls

Exactly 20 years ago the World Economic Forum (WEF) had its first event in Africa about Africa. The theme then, and still is today, interestingly, looked at political stability and regional integration. Although there have been significant strides in relation to political stability, the latter continues to elude the continent.

The relevance of regional integration in Africa is neither new nor surprising. It was a primary objective of the African Development Bank back in 1964 when it set up shop. However, effective integration – particularly in sub-Saharan Africa – has been constrained by inadequate regional infrastructures and a contradictory collection of legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks.

These factors have led many pessimists to choose to dismiss regional integration as a nice idea that is not likely to happen. On the surface, they may appear correct if you consider the situation.

First, sub-Saharan Africa has a…

Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa (Wired UK).

May 30, 2013 by IFPRI

By Grace Lerner

Nearly 30 years after the 1984 famine that left more than 400,000 people dead, Ethiopia has made significant progress toward food security. Some of these recent successes include a reduction in poverty, an increase in crop yields and availability, and an increase in per capita income—rising in some rural areas by more than 50 percent!

What happened to cause this breakthrough, and what steps does the country need to stay on track?

Food and Agriculture in Ethiopia: Progress and Policy Challenges, a recently released book by IFPRI Senior Researchers Paul Dorosh and Shahidur Rashid, discusses this. According to the authors, one reason for Ethiopia’s recent economic accomplishments is sustained agricultural growth. In the 1990s, agricultural growth averaged nearly 3 percent. In the next decade, it grew to 6.2 percent. Calorie malnourishment—insufficient diets or diets deficient in vitamins and nutrients—fell from…